Vanguard Word Update

2k words

***

Cadell motioned them all on, knowing now was the time not to test the Lieutenant further. They placed their simulation equipment back in the cavity, and left. The Lieutenant did not follow them out.

They all got a better look at the scoreboard in the hallway outside, the results projected onto the big screen they’d watched while they’d waited for their turn in the simulation. Their proverbial ‘death’ was plain for all to see, and word would quickly spread through the quadrant, perhaps even to the entire station.

Cadell had never felt so embarrassed in his life. Or so angry. The rush from the test fight had filled him with adrenaline, but he still had enough energy to summon up a wave of fury, and he knew exactly who to aim it towards.

Hunter did too, it seemed, the young man catching onto Cadell’s thoughts before any of the others did. “It was only a practice run,” he tried. “And for most of us it was our first time in augmented reality. Let’s not get too worked up about it.”

“Practice run?” Cadell echoed. “That was our first combat evaluation test, and our last one too thanks to her.”

“Me?” Samiha asked, her feathers twitching in surprise.

“Yes, you!” Cadell snapped, storming over and jamming a finger inches form her beak. “If you hadn’t been such an idiot, runnin’ off on your own and leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves, we might have stood a chance. Now the whole platoon’s gonna to look at us like we’re a joke!”

“Then we shall improve ourselves in the next test,” Samiha said, speaking as though Cadell was a fool not to realise this.

“But there’s not gonna be another test. Don’t you see that? Marek’s not gonna waste his time trainin’ people who can’t even kill a fake enemy. Some protector you turned out to be, you oversized magpie.”

Something about that last sentence caused Samiha to snap, her irises flexing wide enough to give Cadell pause. It reminded him of a predator’s eyes diluting just before the bite. “And what about you?” she said, shoving his arm aside. “As Kith’sla, the blame falls squarely on your shoulders. Perhaps if we had a leader with some skill, who shows responsibility instead of whining about what others do, things would have turned out differently.”

“So now I’m your leader. That’s very convenient.”

“Stop it,” Kazlu interrupted. “both of you, just stop it. The simulation is done, arguing over it won’t change what’s done.”

“No, it won’t,” Samiha agreed. “But you know what will? If this child,” she added, waving at Cadell with a feathered hand, “-was replaced with a Balokarid veteran. Then we would stand a better chance.”

“Cadell’s performance was not the issue,” Kazlu pointed out. “Samiha, we agreed to work with the humans. That means protecting them with your shield. Not yourself.”

“So you’re taking his side?” Samiha shot back. “You cannot be serious.”

“I’m not picking any sides,” Kazlu explained. “Mistakes were made, and we need to acknowledge them. You, need to acknowledge them.”

Samiha frowned at her cohort, then glanced at the rest of them in turn. She looked lost, as though they were all strangers and hadn’t been eating and sleeping with her for the past couple weeks. Cadell had expected the Balokarids to be of the same mind, but Kazlu was backing him up. If this didn’t change Samiha’s attitude, he didn’t think anything will.

“Mistakes,” Samiha muttered, eyes turning to the floor. “Mistakes,” she said again. “Being part of this squad, that was a mistake.”

“Uncalled for, Samiha,” Hunter muttered. “Uncalled for.”

For a while the five of them just stood there in the hallway, each passing moment of silence only fuelling the growing discontent in the air. At some point they began to split apart, Kurtis and Hunter going one way, Kazlu going the other, Samiha watching the Balokarid leave with a strange expression on her face. It might have been one of regret, but Cadell didn’t look. He wanted to be as far away from the alien as possible.

He wondered off without a word, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. At least without any standing orders, he had some time to himself for once. Better to use it now before the Lieutenant changed his mind, for better, or worse.

-xXx-

The cold shower helped, all the days’ worries seeming to drain away along with the cool water sloughing off his skin. At this time of day, he had the place all to himself, which hadn’t happened that often, even back on the base on Manildra, the privacy clearing his thoughts a little.

Maybe he’d been too hasty to suggest the program was done for the five of them. It had to have cost the Alliance a small fortune to ship them out here, one mishap wasn’t the end of their chances, right? One mishap we could have done without, he thought, remembering Samiha’s reaction to him confronting her outside the sim.

He'd come to the showers partly to get away from her, but as he tied a towel over his waist and slathered on some shaving cream, in walked the very person he wanted to avoid. Cadell was by the corner basin when her rusty-red profile sauntered in, and he watched her in the mirror as she looked down the shower stalls, her gaze curving round the room. The bathrooms on the station were unisex, so it wasn’t unusual to see her here, but he wondered why all the same. Was she looking for someone?”

When her eyes eventually came to him, she blinked in surprise, then made her way over. Cadell went about shaving the stubble on his face, despite the growing unease he felt at being approached by a eight-foot tall alien from his blind spot.

“Oh great it’s you,” Cadell said, placing the razor on his cheek and slicing. “You just missed it, I passed by one of the other squads earlier, and they laughed in my face. News of your performance has travelled fast.”

“You think you’re the only one who’s suffered?” Samiha replied, stopping just behind his shoulder. “My only friend on this damnable station has chosen aliens over her own kin. You wouldn’t know shame if it hit you over your featherless head.”

“Maybe she finally figured out how much of a pain in the ass you are,” he muttered under his breath. It was a mute effort, considering she was stood right behind him, the alien clicking her beak in a way that made his eardrums ring.

“Keep it up, Shi’ahk, and I’ll show you what pain really is.”

“Then what are you waitin’ for?” he challenged, turning round and looking her in the eye. The effect didn’t quite meet his intentions, considering his face was covered in shaving cream, but he wasn’t about to let that get in the way. “Do it.”

For a second, he thought she’d do it, and a part of him wondered if he could even stand one hit against a being of her size. There was more muscle mass in her wide legs than in his whole torso, and the same could be said for her muscular arms. Those wings were deceptively large even when sheathed, she must need a lot of strength to carry them around all day.

Her blazing eyes cooled off a fraction, the Balokarid releasing the fists she’d been clenching. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she asked. “The moment I did anything, you would go crying to the Lieutenant, begging him to get rid of me. That’s what you want, yes?”

“Crossed my mind,” he admitted.

“Then you can keep dreaming, because I am not going anywhere.”

“Why is that?” he asked, Samiha blinking in confusion. “Why is it that you’re still here? You don’t get along with anyone, not even your own team, and that’s the point of this whole program, to combine our species’ efforts.”

“I am here because my Kith’sla wanted me to,” Samiha said, her feathers bristling. “She’s put a great deal of trust in me, and I respect her too much to ask her to reconsider my place in this program – overly tempting as that may be.”

“Respect?” he scoffed, turning back to the mirror. “You don’t respect me, the team, or even yourself, so what would you know about that?”

Samiha tilted her head. “Myself? What are you talking about?”

“I saw you,” he said. “That day, when we just came back from our first spacewalk, I saw you go back into the airlock. You pulled out a bag, and a needle, and you shot yourself up when you thought nobody was looking. At first I didn’t what to think, but I’ve seen you excusin’ yourself a lot this past week. You were probably about to shoot yourself up just now if I wasn’t here.”

The Balokarid took a step back, as though he’d struck her, eyes wider than he’d ever seen.

“W-What? How did…? Y-You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered, and now her feathers did more than twitch. They were shaking.

“I think I do,” he said, locking eyes with her through the reflection. “I think they sent us an addict, only they forgot to get you into rehab first. Why else would you be hiding it? Maybe that’s why you messed up today in the sim, you didn’t stop to get your fix.”

“Shut up,” Samiha grumbled. “You know nothing about Balokarids or our ways, you don’t get to speak to me like that.”

“I think Marek would be pretty interested to know about your… problem,” Cadell continued. “Or maybe I should tell your Kith’sla. Which would you prefer?”

“Go ahead,” she snapped, folding her arms. “Tell them both for all I care. Our medicinal needs were signed off by your superiors, you would only be wasting your breath reporting me.”

Samiha turned before he could get a word in, apparently done with their little exchange. Cadell watched her reflection storm away, a satisfied smile on his lips. Her reaction was too colourful for her statement to be true – there was something going on with her, and she had been horrified to know he’d found her out.

This could be it, this could be his chance of getting her out of the squad, maybe get him and his friends another shot by finding a better replacement. Assuming Samiha was bluffing, of course. When should he do it? Right after washing up, he supposed. No time like the present.

He made for his locker, and as he pulled on his fatigues, he heard the sound of trickling water. At the far end of the showers, Samiha was stepping into a cubicle, in the middle of removing her fatigues as she closed the door behind her.

She shrugged the fabric over her shoulders, the hem catching on her feathery head before she tugged it loose. For the first time, he saw a Balokarid without her clothes. Or at least, from the back, and only from around the shoulders and up, as the door blocked the rest. Just like the rest of her, her body was covered in those crimson feathers, the stems shimmering as that hidden dust layer caught on the lights. Her shoulders were slim, her profile curvy as it smoothed out and then in as it approached her waist, but that didn’t mean she was thin. She was built appropriately to her size, but her feminine figure was only accentuated by her stature, and as Cadell’s eyes wondered down her graceful backside and the gentle curve of her spine, he tried to imagine what she might look like without the door blocking the way.

He shook his thoughts clear, pulling his eyes away. What was he doing? He and Samiha practically hated one another, and he could do a lot better than her.

Knowing that he shouldn’t linger before Samiha caught him peeping, he fixed up his collar and made for the door, keeping his eyes well away from her side of the room.

His next stop was the administration quarters. Samiha wasn’t just a danger to him and the team, but to herself. Giving a gun to someone with her kinds of problems was a massive risk, but Cadell would be kidding himself if he said he wasn’t taking a small pleasure in getting rid of her. The sooner she was out, the sooner he could get back to winning Marek’s trust back.

It was time to end this feud.